Gary Pepper

Simple tool to check in on 45's weekend whereabouts and a running tally of the costs to taxpayers.

https://istrumpatbedminster.org/

I thought sure it was FL, but..........

LANCASTER, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania man trying to scare away opossums by setting a fire has destroyed his home.

LNP reports the row house blaze on Wednesday in Lancaster began when a man used butane to light a pile of leaves in his backyard. The man apparently hoped the smoke would help rid him of the marsupials, which are known for playing dead.

A city fire marshal says the fire got out of control and spread to the home, which was built of wood.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-tries-to-scare-off-opossums-by-setting-fire-burns-down-own-house-instead/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Danielle Schacter never thought she would become an un-Christian. "I slowly became more and more disgusted by the way I saw people treating others," says the 32-year-old, who was raised Baptist. "I didn't want to be associated with a religion that preached so much hate."

Schacter, like so many millennials, has chosen a secular life, and she's not alone: according to the Pew Research Center, only four in 10 millennials say that religion is very important to them, compared with six in 10 Baby Boomers.

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The numbers of religiously unaffiliated support this, too: 23 percent of the population identifies with no religion. This number is up from 2007, when it was only 16 percent. Of older millennials, 35 percent are religiously unaffiliated — and they're driving the overall growth of the nonreligiously affiliated in America.

https://www.popsugar.com/news/What-Atheism-43489300

After dropping its largest conventional bomb ever used in combat in Afghanistan on 13 April, the US military said the massive ordnance air blast, or Moab, was a “very clear message to Isis” that they would be “annihilated”.

Defence secretary Jim Mattis said the bomb was “necessary to break Isis”. The Afghan government claimed the bomb killed 94 Isis militants, while harming no civilians.

But a new investigation by independent analysts casts doubt on the efficiency of the bomb, suggesting it inflicted far less damage than initially reported – and raising questions again over why the bomb was dropped.

Using satellite imagery, ground footage and 3D visualisation, Alcis, an institute for geographical analysis, surveyed the targeted area in Nangarhar province.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/05/us-military-afghanistan-bomb-moab

Ten retired military officers have joined the chorus of opposition to Army secretary nominee Mark Green, calling him unfit to be the service’s civilian leader.

“As retired Flag and General Officers, we believe Mark Green is unfit to serve as the next Secretary of the Army,” the officers wrote in a statement provided first to The Hill by the Palm Center, an independent think tank that researches issues of gender and sexuality, and has been active on the military’s LGBT policies.

“We urge President Trump to withdraw his nomination as Secretary of the Army immediately.”

The signatories are retired lieutenant generals, major generals, rear admirals and brigadier generals from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard.

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/332069-retired-officers-army-secretary-nominee-unfit

https://twitter.com/ItIzBiz/status/859938047118327808

WASHINGTON — While House Republicans lined up votes Wednesday for a Thursday showdown over their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Vickie Glenn sat in her Murphysboro, Ill., office and prayed for it to fail.

Ms. Glenn, a Medicaid coordinator for Tri-County Special Education, an Illinois cooperative that helps more than 20 school districts deliver special education services to students, was worried about an issue that few in Congress were discussing: how the new American Health Care Act, with its deep cuts to Medicaid, would affect her 2,500 students.

With all the sweeping changes the Republican bill would impose, little attention has been paid to its potential impact on education. School districts rely on Medicaid, the federal health care program for the poor, to provide costly services to millions of students with disabilities across the country. For nearly 30 years, Medicaid has helped school systems cover costs for special education services and equipment, from physical therapists to feeding tubes. The money is also used to provide preventive care, such as vision and hearing screenings, for other Medicaid-eligible children.

“If I could have 10 minutes with President Trump, I could help him understand what we do, why it’s important,” Ms. Glenn said. “If he understood, he would protect it, because this isn’t Republicans and Democrats. It’s just kids.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/us/politics/health-bill-medicaid-special-education-affordable-care-act.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

(“Don't make a public spectacle of prayer!” Matthew 6:5-6)

https://twitter.com/BettyBowers/status/860107500259090432

pocket, seeks state permission to hike rates by average of $2.47 per month

ST. PETERSBURG — Duke Energy Florida needs a little bit more of your money.

The utility announced this week that it is seeking the recovery of $82 million in costs associated with the cancellation of its Levy County nuclear power plant. If approved by Florida utility regulators later this year, electric rates for Duke's 1.7 million customers would rise $2.51 monthly for 1,000 kilowatt-hours of usage. That's considered the kilowatt usage for the average home.

The rates wouldn't take effect until January 2018.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/duke-energy-seeks-state-permission-to-hike-rates-by-average-of-247-per/2322626